


You Came Back

by AliceDixon



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl Whump, Gen, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:08:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5135789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceDixon/pseuds/AliceDixon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Daryl and the Claimers bump into Rick, Michonne and Carl, someone else comes into the picture and changes the whole storyline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The house was fading away ; Daryl blinked and then it was back. He was trying hard not to let his eyes close or let his head fall forward but it was hard. He could feel the incessant throbbing in his left temple. He could do this, the house is not that far away. He can hear Beth’s labored breathing, struggling holding him up and walking with him. He is not sure how she got him this far but she did. Without any warning, his stomach churned and decided to expel its contents again. He went down again, on his knees and hands, retching ; his ribs were hurting like hell and he felt his temple splitting up everytime he retched.; but Beth is beside him in an instant and holds his shoulder and back while he retches up empty. When he’s done, he’s shaking all over. All he wants to do is lie down and go to sleep. Beth puts his right arm around her neck and tries to heave him up but Daryl feels so heavy ; he stays slumped on the ground.

  
“Come on Daryl, we gotta go. Just a little further, come on.” Beth urges him .

  
“No….No…. just go. Just leave me. Get outta here.” Daryl rasps out. Even speaking hurts with his broken rib and smarting cheek and jaw.  
“No Daryl. I told you, am not leaving you, not again. “

  
Daryl looks up and sees the resolute blue eyes and small mouth set in a firm line looking at him, pleading. Images of the funeral home and their eventual separation flashes by him. After a spell, He nods one time and gives his arm for Beth to sling over her shoulder. Daryl pushes himself up with Beth’s help but his injured right leg isnt cooperating as much as he would want to; he falls down again bringing Beth down with him as he cries out in pain upon hitting the ground. He could see his hands on the ground trembling. His vision is swimming ; he could hear Beth from a dreamlike distance. Slowly, his eyes could focus again and he turns to his right looking at Beth who’s holding and shaking his shoulder.

  
“Whaaat…..what?”

  
“ Stay awake daryl, You gotta stay awake – I cant carry you if you faint. So, no matter what, don’t faint, ok, Daryl” Beth’s looking around and she gets up quickly to move away from him. Daryl stays where he is trying to get his focus again. His breathing is erratic and he knows that is never a good sign. He sees Beth’s boots again and looks up, his head swimming.

Beth is holding a thick sturdy stick. She must have seen it and gone to pick it up.

  
“Here. Use this” as she grabs Daryl’s left hand and wraps it around the stick.

  
Daryl holds on to the stick and uses it as a leverage to push himself up. His right leg screams in protest but he pushes himself anyway because he has do it for beth; Beth who wouldn’t give up on him and who wouldn’t leave him. He needs to do this so that they can move away to safety ; so that Beth can be safe. So, he grits his teeth, holds his breath and gives one final push from the ground and manages to stand up with Beth’s help. His broken ribs get jarred in the process and he lets out a painful whimper and holds down his scream from coming out.

  
Once he is up, they start walking again, slowly, one step at a time. The stick comes in very handy but Daryl could feel his strength slipping away more and more and he knew Beth was bearing more and more of his weight. They are just dragging his feet, one foot at a time.The blood from his right thigh has stopped dripping but the cloth that was binding his wound is soaked wet. He could smell his sweat, blood and vomit on himself and he was sure Beth was disgusted with him. But if she was, she never showed any sign of it; she soldiered on supporting Daryl.

  
The front door of the house that they had spotted earlier finally comes into view. Apparently, it’s the first house of a long row of houses that had been kept out of view from the overgrown thicket and bush. Daryl stops midway, as they head towards the first house.

  
“Wait……..(pause)…. Go ……….another . Not safe” Daryl manages to slur out in between chocked breaths. His eyes are sliding shut as he manages the words out.  
Beth looks at him and says, “Ok”. She knows the reason why and she is amazed that even being so weak and barely staying awake, Daryl is able to use his survival instinct. Obviously, any stranger would look through the first house.

  
“come on” as Beth helps maneuver daryl towards the third house. She knows she has to get him inside as she can feel his strength fading away and that he is on the verge of collapsing.

  
At the door, she pushes the door slowly to see the inside of the house. The hallway is empty , that does not mean the house is. They step into the house and she helps daryl lean by the doorway and closes the door. She leaves his crossbow on the floor beside him.  
“Stay here. Imma gonna clear the house” as Beth unsheaths her knife and starts walking away.

  
Daryl puts out his hand to stop her but she is already gone without even looking back. Daryl could barely whisper as he slides down the wall to sit in a slump on the floor. The last thing he sees is a blonde hair disappearing into the dark interior of the house before everything goes dark.

  
********************************************************************************  
Earlier that morning…….

  
Daryl was holding back, he wanted to be gone from the group by sunrise next morning. All he had to do was wait till they set camp and then make his gateway when everyone’s was asleep. He knew they were bad news when they killed one of their own the day before and were on hunt for more blood over the death of another of their friend. Which he finds ironic, seeing that they could easily kill one of their own over the smallest matter like a lie. No, they were definitely bad news, wasting time in pursuing revenge when they should be focusing on surviving.

  
Joe halted his men and indicated them to rest up a bit since the sun was high up and they had been walking for a bit. Daryl sat further away making sure he had everyone of them in sight , even if Len, the one that was on his ass was long gone as walker food. He did not trust any one of them including Joe. Dan and Billy had gone off into the forest while everyone else sat around the tracks having their meager ration of food.

  
All of a sudden, a woman’s shriek pierced through the air. Everyone was startled. Daryl had a sinking feeling in his gut, a lump was forming in his throat. He did not want to acknowledge that the shriek was a familiar one , he really did not want to believe it but deep down he knew, he knew that voice from anywhere. He was the first to be up and running into the woods in the direction of the shriek. There were a few more screams before it went quiet but not before he stumbled onto the source. He could see Dan‘s back , struggling with a girl, damn, a blonde girl and damn in a yellow polo shirt. Billy was standing to his right, smirking away. He watched the scene unfold before his very eyes as Dan turned around.

  
“Beth”…. The name comes out as a whisper even without his realizing it.

  
It was Beth, his sweet lovely Beth, looking a bit more disheveled and dirtier and like she hasn’t slept in days, but Beth nonetheless. Beth stopped struggling and her distressed blue eyes grew larger as she locked eyes with the cobalt blue of Daryl. Dan had his right arm around her neck and had pinned her left arm behind her back. Daryl only waited one split second as he turned to the right and shot an arrow between Billy’s eyes. He got his gun out and pointed at Dan.

  
“Let’er go or you’re next”, Daryl practically growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously at Dan. Dan had a shocked look on him as he seemed to contemplate on what Daryl said.  
A smirk slowly formed on Dan’s face, as he took his arms from around Beth’s neck. Daryl stepped forward but as he looked at Beth, her eyes grew wild shaking her head.

  
“Dar…………hmmmph” before Dan brought his hand up and cupped her mouth again. In that split second, Daryl realised that he had completely forgotten about the other men but before he could turn around, the butt of a shotgun connects with the nape of his head sending him falling face down into the ground. When he opens his eyes, he sees stars swimming in his vision before boots and fists come crashing down on his back, face and ribs. In the distant, he can hear Beth’s muffled cries and sees her feet and Dan’s feet shuffling around in between the feet of the others who have now surrounded him, taking turns hitting and kicking him.  
When the kicking and hitting comes to a stop, Dary’sl ears are ringing and his left side’s radiating a searing hot pain. He tries to get up on his knees and finds himself buckling as his arms and legs refuse to follow his command. He still has the throbbing pain at the nape of his head. Slowly, he manages to get up on his knees and hands. He can feel the coppery liquid in his mouth and spits out blood.

  
He can hear someone talking to him and damned, if he can actually make out what was being said.

  
Someone pushes him down roughly on his shoulders and he falls back on his ass. He can see Joe mouthing something and slowly, he is able to make sense of what is being said.

  
“You’re an asshole, you know that , Daryl, you’re an asshole. After all that we’ve done for you, this is what you give us back. Killing one of us, and for what , Daryl, for this pretty little thing here”

  
Daryl follows his voice and is able to tilt his face up to see Joe cupping Beth’s jaw harshly as he moves her face to the left and right. Beth’s face is streaked with tears now as she continues to struggle to get away from Dan’s hold who is grinning from ear to ear. Daryl thinks he should have just taken his shot at the asshole when he had the chance.

  
Daryl takes deep breaths as he attempts to find his voice. His throat feels parched and dry like a sandpaper.

  
“Joe…. Please, man….. you gotta let her go….she’s just a girl” Daryl tries to reason with Joe. He knows that there is no way they’re letting him go but if he could at least get them to let Beth go; but deep down, he knew no way in hell. He realized that was the reason why he started shooting first instead of reasoning it with them.  
“Hmmm… yeah, she’s a girl alright. Nicest one I’ve seen in a while. Too.”Joe’s eyes start roaming over Beth’s face, hair and shoulder as he somewhat inspects her.  
“Len was right then. You did lose a tail, didn’t you , a nice, young’un, “ Joe comes to squat in front of Daryl. Daryl spats blood again to the ground before getting up on his knees and looking up to give the nastiest stink eye he could to Joe. He’s got a split lip, bruises are already forming on parts of his face and his left eye’s starting to sport a shiner.

  
“you already got me, do what ever you want with me , man , just let her go” daryl gives it another shot. Joe, gives him his widest smile ever.  
“No, see. Dan, here says he claimed her. The first one to spot her. And she’s such a fine piece of fish , would be a shame to let her go, now, wuldnit. I get it, she’s yours. But since you’re part of the group, surely we can share, huh, Daryl. “

  
Daryl coughs and spits blood again to side before wrapping his left arm around his belly. It hurts like a bitch but the sight in front of him pains him even more. Beth’s eyes are wild and she’s clearly scared shit as the full nature of her predicament dawns upon her. Her eyes searches Daryl, pleading but yet, he can also tell that she is fighting back, fighting to stay brave as she looks upon him with concern.

  
“now, lets see what this little one is really capable of” Joe nods the slightest at Dan who pushes Beth to her knees and holds her arms pined to her back. Beth yelps and tries to get up but Dan pushes her back down with his left hand and holds her down even as she struggles to get away from his grip.

  
Daryl moves to get up but stops when he feels the cold steel of a gun’s end pressed to his left temple. He stays on his knees feeling desperately needing to do something; his mind working double time on how to get out of this mess. But he can’t think , all he feels is panic bubbling to the surface as the scene before him unfolds. Joe has already unzipped his fly and he’s grabbed Beth’s hair still in that funny ponytail and pulls her head towards him as Dan holds down her and pins her wrists to her back. Beth is fighting back even as Joe yanks and tightens his grip on her hair.

“hmm….please… don’t… please don’t…..Beth’s voice is shaky and she is shaking her head as she struggles to get her hands out of Dan’s grip.  
Joe leans down and turns beth’s head roughly to look at daryl who still has a gun pointed at his head.

  
“Now, lookere, missy. You just need to do me a favor, which if you don’t, your lover over there is gonna pay” Beth is distraught but she stops squirming as she takes in the full situation. She stops struggling although her breathing is still erratic and for a moment, Daryl thinks he sees the fire in her eyes go out.

  
“You son of a bitch, she aint mine or yours. Let her go or I swear I will kill every single one of you” Daryl shouts and for that , he earns a kick to his left rib, making him double over with pain. He tries to breathe but his breath catches. He Is not sure if its because he’s got some broken ribs or because he is going out of his mind not being able to stop what is taking place in front of him. He is supposed to keep her safe. He lost her and now, ……….

  
He forces himself to look up and he knows that he will never be able to get that sight out of his mind for as long as he lives.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comment. It motivates me more. Will try to update more regularly; home and work been busy.

Wake up ….. come on Daryl…… please.

Beth is on the verge of breaking down. Her voice is becoming hysterical and she can feel the lump in her throat. Daryl’s not waking up no matter how much she shakes him. She had searched the house and managed to get rid of the one lone walker that was shuffling towards her in the kitchen. An elderly matron still clad in her house clothes with her left hand hanging limp and chunks of it missing. It didn’t take much for Beth to stab the walker. Once she cleared the other rooms, she hurried back to the front to find Daryl slumped by the doorway where she had left him; with his head down and motionless.

Her heart had skipped a beat as she ran across the living room and fell on her knees in front of Daryl. She had lifted up his head to find his eyes closed. When she found a weak pulse in his neck, she had let out a breath that she never realized she was holding back. She continues shaking his shoulder and tapping his face.

“Daryl… Daryl…Daryl……..”

He can hear his name being called but he has trouble locating where its coming from. The voice floats around and goes and comes back. Everything is black. Something or someone is tugging at his sleeve, no , walkers, gotta get up, gotta run.

Daryl’s eyes startle open and he jerks up, fists clenching. He is panting heavily and his hunted eyes look wildly everywhere until they settle on Beth who has her hand on his chest, gently holding him back.

“hey, hey, its ok, its ok. You’re ok.”

Daryl stares at Beth, his panicked breathing easing down by the second as he slumps back against the wall. He groans as he becomes aware that every movement that he makes is sending through him jolts of pain and his body is hurting all over. He looks around again slowly and then turns to Beth.

“Hey …..” Daryl’s voice comes out croaky but Beth’s got a big smile on her face like it’s the best thing she ever heard. Daryl licks his chapped lips and swallows. “You……… ok?”

Beth just nods, her mouth locked in a tight smile, her eyes starting to tear up. Hearing Daryl speak and asking if she’s ok when he’s the one all bashed up and broken just does it for her. The floodgates open and tears start running down her face. She puts her arm around Daryl and hugs him, a bit too tight, when she hears a guttural groan. Easing up a bit but still hugging him, she gazes at him and the tears won’t stop coming and she’s not even sure if they are tears of joy for finally seeing him again or tears of sadness for him all beaten up and injured. 

“You………..came…………….back.” Daryl’s eyes are scrunched up as he rasps out. Beth can see that he is struggling to speak in between his raggedy breaths.

Beth nods and wipes her tears with the sleeves of her shirt. No time for crying.

“Yeah….Shhh…………..Its ok. Don’t talk, just lie down a bit, ok. “

He holds his right arm wrapped around his midriff as Beth eases him down slowly to lie on the floor. His breathing is erratic and he coughs a number of times again, each cough making him grimace. She finds a cushion and places it beneath his head.  

“I’ll be right back, Daryl”. Beth gets the bottle of water which she saw earlier on the kitchen counter and finds some cloth in the room upstairs before she goes back to Daryl.

Daryl’s eyes are closed and he looks pale in the fading light.

“Hey….” Beth slowly cups his face , careful not press on his bruises. His skin feels clammy to the touch and cold. Daryl’s eyelids flutter open and his cobalt blue eyes fix on Beth’s. His mouth opens slightly but he doesn’t speak, instead releases an audible sigh.

“Here,  drink some water.” Beth helps him to sit up by holding him up as she scoots over behind him on her knees. Daryl gulps down some water too quickly causing him to start coughing midway, in fitful bursts, leaving him trembling by the end of it.

 “I am gonna check you, ok, Daryl” letting him lie down back again. She wets the cloth with water and starts wiping his face gently. Daryl grimaces as the cold cloth touches his swollen face. He knows he’s banged up pretty good from the way Beth winces and her breath holds as she is wiping his face. For the first time, Daryl notices a long laceration on her forehead and her burst lips, having had her share of injuries. Her burst lips jolts Daryl’s memory back to Joe and his men and what they had done. He could feel his breathing picking up pace again and unknowingly he’s clenched shut his fists again.

“Beth…… I am ………..sso……….” but he is cut short by Beth who fixes him with a piercing look. For a minute, he thought that she would snap at him but the very second later, Beth deflates as her eyes take on a concerned look and wells up again.

“No, Daryl, don’t…………………just rest ok. You don’t gotta say anything, ok. I am gonna take care of you first. “ The softness in her touch and the pleading look in her eyes quietens and calms Daryl’s nerves and he gives her the slightest nod.    

Daryl’s lip is burst in three places, his right jaw is swollen and both his eyes are swollen with his left eye sporting a shiner. She knew he took a real heavy beating and for a long spell of time too. There is a lot of dried blood on his left forehead and ear and she gasps when she finds the source of the blood. A long gash on his left temple leaving his hair and ears matted with blood. She uses the wet cloth to continue cleaning the gash, careful not to press too hard.   

As much as Daryl keeps reminding himself to hide the agonizing pain his body going through,  his one hell of a thumping headache isn’t helping much to stop the moans and groans that escape his lips as Beth continues to wipe the blood and vomit away.

Beth cringes as she remembered the number of times Daryl had been kicked in the ribs. She also remembered that he kept wrapping his midriff with his hands as he had first run then walked. And he still has his hand on his abdomen now. He grunts as she lifts up his arm slowly and puts it by his side before pushing his vest aside and pulls up his shirt carefully to look at his ribs. His torso is riddled with blooming bruises of blue and purple especially his left. She’s pretty sure he’s got at least some broken ribs from the looks of it. She just hopes he doesn’t develop pneumonia or something worse like a collapsed lung. Her eyes roam further down to his right thigh with the makeshift bandage. She knew Daryl had lost a lot of blood from that deep slash. His blood was practically gushing out as they had both ran for their lives and despite Beth’s pleas to stop and wrap the wound up, Daryl had forced himself and her to continue on running to get as far as possible. That is until he couldn’t run anymore and had started limping. Beth then had forced him to stop and gotten him to take off his jacket and used it to wrap the wound to stop the bleeding.

As she slowly unwraps the jacket from his thigh, at the back of her mind, she’s running through alternative as to how to handle this as she did not come across any first aid kit or even any needle and thread in the house. She makes a mental note of checking the house again more thoroughly later. The sight that meets her is not pretty. The slash on his thigh has stopped bleeding but the skin around the wound is flaming red and swollen. The cut is deep and she can see that the infection is setting in , based on what her father had pointed to her numerous times back at the prison. To fight the infection, Daryl needs antibiotics and he also needs painkillers as she can tell that he is in a lot of pain.

Beth cleans the wound as well as possible and quickly cuts up one of the t-shirts she found into strips and uses them to wrap the wound again. She cannot do much without the needle and thread, might as well cover up the wound for the time being. Daryl has gone quiet in the meantime but she can hear his hitched breathing and occasional suppressed whimpers as she cleans and wraps the cloth around his wound. Her mind is racing and working out options as she takes in the lengthening shadows that the curtained windows are throwing in.

Grabbing a throw rug from the couch, she covers Daryl and cups his face, looking at his heavy-lidded eyes.

“Daryl..” Daryl’s eyes flutter open to look at Beth.

“Daryl, I will be right back, I am gonna get some things and I will be right back, ok”

“No……. where?.... Daryl’s voice barely carries through. Beth gets him to drink a bit more of the water before she lays his head down again. His skin feels slightly hot and he looks flushed, the beginning of a fever , adding to the sense of urgency that Beth feels and leaving her no choice. She needs to find medicine quick and that means leaving Daryl and leaving the house.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl and Beth go through a harrowing experience that neither will probably be able to forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems Daryl's always saving everyone else. Its about time some one saves his ass for a change. I don't know why I am so mean to Daryl altho I love to death his character. Oh, be forewarned that there is a scene of sexual assault.

Then…………………..

Daryl’s mouth is dry like sandpaper and his jaws are clenched so tight he was sure he would break it. His knuckles are white from all the clenching and unclenching his fists were doing. His left ribs are on fire but nothing compared to the rage that was bristling in him. Joe is holding Beth’s head in place and thrusting into her mouth. Dan is holding her down with her arms pinned behind her. He can see tears streaming down her dirt-streaked face and Beth’s muffled sobs and sounds. Daryl has seen a lot of bad things in his lifetime in the world before but he never had to see something like this especially happening to someone close to him. He was revolted and his mind was going crazy with rage. He is surprised when his eyes starts prickling with heat and something wet. This isn’t right, it can’t be. No….. No…

“Let her go…..you bastards…… “ Daryl screams hoarsely, getting up. Someone slams their rifle onto his back, knocking the air out of his lungs and forcing him again to fall back on his knees. Daryl pants as he tries to breath, to look up and see Joe thrusting one final time before he stills himself, grunting away.

“There you have it, make sure you swallow it , good and well.” Laughing, he lets go of Beth’s hair to tuck himself back in his pants with a smirk as Beth falls forward hiding her face the other way, gagging and her sobs becoming louder, her hands still pinned to the back by Dan.

“Oh, my , that was so good. Real good. You got yourself a fine sucker there, Daryl. A fine bitch. “ Joe spits to the ground.

Turning to Dan, “she’s all yours,” before sneering at Daryl. Beth screams as Dan pushes her to the ground flat and pins her down with his body. He starts groping her to unbutton her jeans while holding down her two wrists with his left hand. Beth tries to buckle him but Dan has easily over 50 pounds over her. The others are leering and goading Dan on as Beth screams and fights tooth and nails to throw him off.

“NO….” Daryl bellows and despite the blinding jolt of pain that shoots through him, he pushes himself up only to receive a sharp blow to his head from the left and then the earth is spinning around him and he sees nothing but blinding light. There is a ringing in his left ear as he finds himself back on his knees and hands, looking at the ground, his vision blinking in and out. His hands appear double as he blinks and tries to focus his vision.  In the distance, he could roughly make out Beth’s screams and the others taunting coming from a far.

He barely catches Joe’s words…. Teach him boys.. teach him all the way … before he falls under the mercy of the boots and fists again. He wants to lash out with his arms and legs but he finds that he has no sense of direction or control over his limbs. His ears are still ringing and he sees black spots around vision.  He realizes he had curled onto himself to protect himself from the blows and kicks and he could feel thick sticky blood dripping down his left temple.  His left ribs are on fire and excruciating pain hits him every time a boot finds its place in his ribs. He finds himself gasping for breath and all the while Beth’s screams could be heard in the background as his body and head is rained down with vicious blows and kicks.

He feels surreal, he keeps hoping that this is a nightmare and he will wake up. He’s gonna die and Beth’s gonna die, and she’s gonna suffer at these animals’ hands before she dies. And he cannot do anything. He had only just gotten her. This cannot end like this, not for him, most definitely not for Beth, who still believes there are good people left in this world. He didn’t want him proven right and her wrong in this way.

Then, all of a sudden, someone shouts walkers… and the kicks stop. There is a scramble, someone is screaming and he lifts up his head, a bit too quickly, earning him a stabbing pain to the temple. Two walkers have fallen on Dan and one has already bit into his fat neck and started chomping as Dan thrashes away.  It was a beautiful sight to behold, as far as Daryl’s concerned and he thinks he’s never been happier to see walkers.

Everything happens very fast after that. More walkers stagger out of the bushes, prompting Joe and the others to shoot at them. Daryl can see that Beth has moved away from Dan and is readjusting back her jeans. Her eyes catch that of Daryl’s who still curled on the floor and he cries to her, “Run, Beth….”

But Beth is not moving. Her eyes are darting around wildly, looking from Joe to the walkers to Daryl. She is panting heavily, has wrapped her arms around her and curled into a fetal position. There is a blank expression on her face and Daryl’s not sure if she heard him or not. So, he shouts to her in his hoarse voice again to get up and run and Beth does not even look at him this time, hanging her head down.

“Tony, Harley, we gotta get out here, there’s more of them coming.”

Throwing a glance at the now seething Daryl and Beth curled up still on the ground, Joe says “Leave them for the walkers, Harley, get their stuff ” and bolts away with Tony close on his heels.

Still dazed and reeling from the knock to his head, Daryl notices Harley picking up his crossbow and pounces at him to grab his legs. Harley falls to the ground. Daryl manages to climb on him and proceeds to punch the daylights out of him. He looks over to Beth again but she’s no longer at her spot. Harley uses this opportunity to punch Daryl in his left torso. Daryl grits his teeth in pain and wraps his hands around Harley’s neck and proceeds to strangle him. A jolt of excruciating pain shoots through him and he winces when he sees a knife sticking out of his right thigh. He struggles with Harley to get hold of the knife but Harley drags the knife down the punctured wound forcing an agonizing scream from him as Harley flips Daryl over to straddle him. Daryl feels the air sucked out of his lungs when the knife is pulled out. Harley raises the knife but before he could bring it down, a gunshot rings out and he falls to the ground. His head lolls to the side, crimson red blood drops trickling from the bullet hole on his forehead.  

Daryl is still on his back and he can feel the gaping hole in his thigh. He wants to lift up his head to see the wound and his surrounding but his head is throbbing like hell and he is all spent – all he wants to do is go to sleep. His hand comes back sticky with blood from where he touched his thigh. His vision is fading in and out and his eyes are drooping shut but his lull is disrupted when a blonde head with a halo appears in his line of sight, blocking the sun.

 “Daryl, here, get up.” Daryl blinks a number of times to steady his vision. He knew it was her, she was the one who shot Harley. He’s not sure where she got the gun from but she never left.

“ Beth. I told you to run………..” Daryl tries growl but he is more exhausted than angry and his words come out dazed instead. Beth doesn’t answer him but instead tucks the gun she’s holding into her jeans waistband. She has his crossbow on her back. Putting her arm around Daryl’s shoulders, she helps him sit up.

“ We gotta go, I can hear them, but we gotta bind this wound first” as she looks around, avoiding Daryl’s eyes.

Daryl hears snarling and shuffling behind him and turns to see a few walkers staggering out from the tree line; some fall on the dead bodies but some start shuffling towards them. His mind goes into auto –survival mode and he grits his teeth and pushes himself up with Beth’s help. His body hurts all over but his adrenaline‘s pumping and fear’s a stronger motivator than sleep.

“No time, we gotta go. Now.” Daryl growls out and they both start running. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have noticed, i am shifting back and forth between two different events separated by time, then and now. Next chapter onwards , it will be all about now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth attempts to get some medicine for Daryl amidst the emotional turmoil she is undergoing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and kudos. I used to be a Bethyl shipper (that explains this story) but now I am official Rickyl trash. So, that scene in 605 is really not making me happy. Just saying..... Still love TWD and Rick. Enjoy my next chapter.

Beth grips her knife hard as she silently slides along the wall of the house, keeping to the shadows and keeping her ears open for any noise. There are only a few bullets left in the gun that she snagged off Billy, and she intends to keep them for as long as she can. So far, she has been lucky enough to have not run into any walkers in the earlier 2 houses and she’d found some things like a working flashlight and some canned food but she has still not found any medicine or first aid kit. So, Beth continues to move down the row of houses, scouring. She knows she’s dead on her feet and all she wants to do is return to Daryl and check on him to make sure he’s ok. But she knows that she cannot go back without the things she needs if she wants to help him. She had secured the house that they are in from the inside after making Daryl as comfortable as possible before coming out through one of the windows. All she can do is pray no dead or living tries to get into the house while she is away.

She’s been having a hard time focusing on the task at hand. The memories of the events earlier keep invading her mind – the men’s taunting, the fat guy’s hands all over her, Daryl on his knees, bloodied, the men circling and kicking him, the salt peppered man holding her head and…………... No, she didn’t want to go there. Sometimes they became too much forcing her to stay rooted to where she is standing, tuning out and forgetting her surroundings. And she would get startled and come out of it, having to have to take deep breaths and blink back the tears that threaten to come. She forces herself to remember Daryl laying helpless and all alone to keep her motivated and focused.

She has no one left and she needs to save him. It’s the most important thing now. She is happy she found him but certainly not under these circumstances. But then, when did things ever happened according to what one wants in this world today. She had not expected to find him but she did and he is still alive ; that has to account for something. That accounts for a lot, actually; losing someone and meeting that person again alive in this dangerous world is a big deal, Beth had decided.

The sun had set sometime back and its dark now, except for the light thrown by the moon. She peeps into one of the open windows of the sixth house looking for any movement or sound. As with the other houses, it is silent. Pushing the window frame up, she climbs into the house with her knapsack. She waits in the dark for any movement or noise. She closes all the curtains of the house before proceeding to turn on the flashlight and starts searching the living room cabinets and doors. No luck. She slowly proceeds to the kitchen area with caution. Once she is sure nothing is lurking around, she starts searching the cabinets. She finds some bottled water which she stuffs into her bag. She comes back out and slowly ascends the stairs, knife at ready and the flashlight lighting a path for her.

After having no luck with the first two rooms, Beth tries the door of the third room and finds it locked. She is of two minds of leaving the room as it is or trying to get in. In the end, she uses her knife to slid through the door lock andunlockthe door. She slowly creaks open the door and immediately, a rotting smell hits her in the face. Beth slowly shines her torch into the room to determine the source of the smell, taking cautious small steps into the room. She finds the still decomposing corpse sitting in a chair that is facing the window. A shotgun lies on the floor, the owner having used it to opt out. Beth releases the breath she’s been holding and relaxes her grip on her knife. She picks up the shotgun and checks for bullets. Good, there are a few left.

After searching for a few minutes, Beth’s face is lighted with a big smile as she finds a white box underneath the jumble of clothes in the closet. The first aid box still has some aspirins, bandages and a needle kit which is not a lot but will have to do for now. She lets out a huge sigh of relief and mutters thanks to a god that she sometimes thinks still exists. She stuffs the box into her knapsack. She looks through the jumble of clothes and finds a few plaid shirts and a track pants and packs them as well.

She looks up and she is taken aback when she sees the person staring back at her in the dresser mirror. She cannot recognize herself. Dirty blond hair, dark circles under red eyes, dirty yellow shirt, burst lip and bruises on the arms and neck. She sees the stains on her shirt, not the blood stains that she is used to. She then smells it. Its him, them. She can smell him, them on her. The smell is overwhelming and gags her, suffocating her, as it threatens to bring her back to when it happened, to bring her down. She struggles to take off the shirt over her head and flings it the furthest corner of the room. She doesn’t know what comes over her as she snatches a water bottle from her knapsack and starts splashing the water on her face and herself. She grabs some clothes from the closet and starts wiping herself frantically. The nauseas feeling overwhelms her and she falls to her knees and starts throwing up. By the time she is done, she realizes her breathing’s hitched and she is trembling. Beth crawls to the corner of the room and hugs herself. Her tears are full-on flowing now but she doesn’t attempt to stop it. She allows herself to cry.

When the trembling and tears finally stop, she takes the water bottle and goes to the attached bathroom. She uses the remaining water to gargle out the bitter aftertaste that is still lingering in her mouth and washes her face.

She forces herself to look at herself in the mirror again. “I am not just another dead girl. I did change and I am not the girl who cut her wrist before. I am not that person anymore, I wanna live. “

Her eyes start to well up again but Beth blinks them back and takes a deep breath. “No, we don’t get to cry, we all have work to do” Beth reminds herself. She knows she is done crying and that she has to get back to Daryl. She tells herself that she couldn’t stop what happened to her but at least she can help save Daryl. She slips on a shirt and picks up her knapsack and shotgun to go downstairs.  She unsheaths her knife and peers out of the window to check for any movements before slipping out again and gets ready to head back when she hears the tell-tale groans and moans. Crawling on her fours, she moves to the edge of the wall and slowly peeks at the front lane of the house rows. Four walkers are shuffling towards her direction but they seem to be unaware of her presence. Beth stays hidden behind the house watching the movements of the stray walkers. She holds her breath as they shuffle past her and walk towards the edge of the housing area. Keeping her sight on them, she can only hope that they continue on their path and not divert elsewhere especially the house where Daryl is now laying in unconscious. She lets out a sigh of relief as the walkers go past the first house and head towards the forest edge. All of a sudden a body falls on her, the gnashing of teeth too close to her face. Beth groans as the half decomposed walker pins her down but she manages to hold the wrists of the walker and keep the face and jaws from taking a bite off her face; the putrid breath too near for comfort. Lucky for her, the walker is no more than skeleton and rotting skin and she manages to flip the walker over and put her knee on it. She finds her knife and with one smooth dive, embeds the knife in the forehead of the walker. She quickly scans her surrounding to make sure there are no other walkers attracted by sounds of the scuffle. By now, she is panting and she heaves herself off the walker to slump by the wall. She finds her knuckles white from the clenching the knife too tight as she closes her eyes and scrunches them, taking in deep breaths.  

“Its ok…………….(sniffs)………….you’re ok………you’re ok…..” Beth repeats to herself over and over again. She slowly eases her grip on her knife and allows herself to sit by the wall for a few minutes before getting up to go back to Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I love that Jeffrey Dean Morgan's been cast as Negan. love that man. John Winchester makes a cross over to TWD, huh?

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, if i didn't get the southern speech correct.


End file.
